Compass Charter School values the inquiry process and students at all grade levels engage in meaningful interdisciplinary projects.

All students participate in a variety of research practices including observations, question development, interviews, artifact collection, field visits, note-taking and hands-on experiments.

In an ever-changing world, we believe that it is crucial for our students to learn to meet the needs of the present generation while simultaneously keeping the needs of future generations in mind. To cultivate this thinking, our students will study their relationship with the world using a lens of sustainability. Our students participate in integrated projects focused on the living world, social justice, and economic justice.

We support the use of literacy skills across subject areas by creating units of study to teach specific reading, writing, listening, speaking, and language content outlined in the Common Core State Standards. Using a balanced literacy framework, our students engage in a daily reading workshop, writing workshop, word study session, and read aloud in addition to integrated literacy work.

The mathematics program emphasizes student-driven exploration, problem solving, collaborative group work, and discussion that supports the conceptual understanding of mathematics. We draw from multiple resources to plan Common Core State Standards aligned units of study including TERC Investigations, Contexts for Learning, and Math Solutions.

We view the arts as a channel for learning, communication, expression, and creativity. Teachers and arts specialists collaboratively plan integrated units of study and our schedule includes time for arts teachers to co-teach with each classroom teacher.

We are an intentionally diverse school and we reserve 40% of our open seats for children who qualify for free or reduced price lunch.

We are an inclusive school and we provide services for children with a range of learning needs, including children who are academically advanced as well as those who need short and/or long-term academic and/or social emotional intervention. We also offer a range of related services for children with identified special needs.

Our students loop with their classmates and teachers for two consecutive school years (K-1, 2-3, 4-5). This longer term student-teacher relationship allows our teachers to develop a deeper understanding of each child in their classroom and to better tailor instruction to meet individual needs.

Our extended school day runs from 8:00a.m. to 4:00p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. On Wednesdays, the school day runs from 8:00a.m. to 1:00p.m. The afternoon is used for staff development. We have an on-site after school program until 6:00p.m. each day.